year. we are braving the crowds. we're finding out more also about the virginia couple that crashed tuesday night's state dinner at the white house. they've been very busy in court lately, named in 16 separate civil suits. and on the night they slipped past security to rub elbows with washington's elite, they were being filmed, it turns out, by a re-al tv crew. something we've been watching for a while, are folks in washington really flying the friendly skies while we get hit with one pesky fee after another? are lawmakers charged with regulating the airline industry are enjoying very nice perks when they take to the skies. we'll tell you what the goodies are and what both sides are saying. door busters, super sales, midnight madness can only mean one thing. it's black friday. the door buster deals have been going on all night. retailers are really counting on today to ease the pain of the recession. our adrianna howser live at

macy's in new york city where the crowd is a little lighter than it was last year. sean callebs is live at a walmart in mayor raet, georgia. it's busy, isn't it? >> reporter: it's been busy throughout the evening. we talked to a gentleman in line to get a laptop. he got here at 10:00 p.m. by the time we spoke with him, he was so punch drunk from being up 24 hours he had to point what he wanted. they lure in, while supplies last. this is where a popular gps device was. you can see it's gone. i'll ask our photographer to walk down this aisle. you can see down the electronics where they have tvs, the playstations, things of that nature, it's still chaotic here. but to avoid a humg crush, christine, what they did, they had about 20 different lines. people could get in for big screen tvs. they could get in for the playstations, whatever they wanted. but once they were gone, they were gone. what they hope to do is as they get folks to come down the aisle

and check out, look at these prices, unbeatable, $0, $38, whatever. they want people to toss these in their cart as well. they have been. when we got here a couple of hours ago, it was a mad house. it's thinned out significantly. i think they braved the first wave but it's going to get -- more and more are going to come in here because there are great deals. that's what we're hearing. blue rays going for 98 bucks. this was a popular item. these comforter sets are going for pretty inexpensive. this is the second load of those to come through. but it's been nuts out here, christine and will be like this i guess throughout black friday. if you're a walmart shopper, today is the die to get out. >> that's the trick in all this. the trick is, okay, so the gps is gone but they're hoping once they got you there, you'll pick up a few other things. it's really the way retail he recalls try to hack into your brain to get you to keep buying, even if they don't have any more of what you need.

all right, sean. thanks. let's head north to marietta, georgia, to new york city where our adrianna howser is live at the macy's in midtown. we're hearing it's looking a little bit different there, huh, adrianna? >> it's definitely crowded, joe, but it's not crazy. it's not mad. we were here early. people were lining up since midnight. some of the people we talked to were here since midnight, some 3:00 a.m., everyone waiting to come in and spend. i would say the entrances that we could see had about 300 people since the door opened at 5:00 a.m. there's been a steady flow of people. the store is very large. you don't see specific crowds in any of the registers, but you do see, like i said, a steady flow of shoppers. everyone willing to spend. a lot of women looking for bags and shoes. that's what we're seeing here, the main -- the biggest deals, the hottest deals apparently take place in the first part of the morning. then as the deals progress, then they will become more of the

typical holiday deal. it is an important black friday, considering that we're seeing mixed economic indicators. the national retail federation expects a decline of 1%. however, joe, they're expecting about 16% more people hitting the stores today this black friday. joe. >> all right, thanks so much, adrianna hauser. and we'll check in with you later. also happening right now, new details on your money. world markets are tumbling as we speak. the down arrows stretch from europe to asia. the drop fueled in part by a debt crisis in dubai. our stephanie elam joins us now. just when we thought we were talking about a fragile recovery, a reminder how interconnected and just how fragile -- and what a debt boon we had around the world. >> shows you, too, that the world is much smaller. when you see something like this happen, a lot of us weren't paying attention because we were talking about turkey yesterday.

overseas things were going squirrelly pip thought i would be talking about black friday. coming in this morning, there are a lot of people out of the clubs going shopping. very weird day in new york city. very bizarre. when you look at the mideast, why we care so much about this story. overnight, asia markets really took it on the chin hard core. you have the nikkei in japan off 3.2%, the hang seng in hong kong off nearly 5%. same with south korea's cop si. dubai is the main investment firm basically asked for six months, can we not pay our debt? basically they're saying we don't want to pay on this debt of almost $60 billion. dubai world is part of the state. it's not like its own separate company but part of the dubai government. this freaked investors out wanting to know how many banks had exposure to this that sent people into safe havens like the yen. that really tanked the u.s. dollar this morning. here's some things i can break down.

european markets are down but the footse but coming back. this is also part of the reason that the u.s. markets can't be closed four days in a row. we'll have a truncated trading session today in new york so this can get worked out in the system. what we need to see is how many american banks have exposure to dubai world. if it's not that much it could be more of a dubai centric thing but it shoals you when something like this happens and people are still skittish about the safety of the markets it makes people freak out a bit. things are looking better as the wave comes closer to the united states. >> you might remember dubai world, it owned dubai ports world wisconsin tried to buy the operations of american ports. there was a big outcry over that. this is that same company. they moved the ports operation separately because they want to kind of keep that safe in all of this whatever happens next for dubai world. >> we will be watching this. obviously, more information to come. it's also exasperated because of

the eid holiday. also, thanksgiving here. a nice confluence of lots of things. >> a little turmoil in the markets right now for black friday, huh? >> a little bit, which you don't really expect when you're thinking about go get your shopping on. >> thanks so much. new this morning, the sequel tore cash for clunkers. call it the home edition. the federal government is putting the final touches on a plan to offer americans rebates next year if they turn in not old cars but old appliances and buy new energy-efficient models. individual states will administer that cash for appliances program using federal stimulus money. heard of this before? it's expected to get under way by february. the number of americans with diabetes is expected to double in the next 25 years. and the cost of treating them will triple. that's according to a study by the university of chicago. if current trends continue, researchers say 44 million americans will be living with diabetes by the year 2034, and the annual cost of treating them

will be $336 billion. and it's looking like there's potential danger to anyone who flies in and out of newark international airport. federal investigators say they're very concerned about runway procedures at that airport and the number of near misses since last year. in the next half hour, our allan chernoff breaks down the problems at newark and explains why 1 in every 700 landings at that airport has to be aborted. we're beginning to learn more also about the couple from virginia that crashed tuesday night's white house state dinner. when they're not slipping past security to rub elbows with the washington elite, they're spending a lot of time in court. tareq and michaelee salahi named in 16 lawsuits. a story says they'll take it public. in the hours leading up to the state dinner they crashed the salahis were followed around

by a washington reality tv crew. the bravo network confirming michaela salahi is being considered for a role in their upcoming housewives of d.c. show. a spokesman says they told the producers they were invited guests and there was no reason not to believe them. >> between the balloon boy, the person who pretended to be the national chamber of commerce in the press story, and this story, it's like what will everybody do? >> everybody is talking about. how do you get in the white house like that? >> i don't know. i just -- it just keeps -- it's just astonishing. and they were announced. all right. coming up, we have an incredible story about flying the friendly skies. your friendly neighborhood congress person, for example. >> a number of members of congress who actually get the opportunity to fly on planes with a few perks from the very airline industry they're supposed to be regulating. last year, when you bought a new subaru

during the share the love event, you helped us donate almost $5 million dollars to charity. i chose the boys & girls clubs. it's an investment for the future. i chose the national wildlife federation. our pets are our kids. we chose the aspca. we're sharing the love again this year. because giving back feels good. on the subaru outback, motor trend's 2010 and two hundred fifty dollars gets donated to your choice of five charities.

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female announcer: from jennifer, a sweeping chaise sectional at the unheard of price, now just $399. with luxurious styling and so affordable, $399. from jennifer. straight ahead on the most news in the morning, a new dustup between climate scientists and skeptics. e-mails allegedly hacked from a university computer have some wondering if experts studying global warming are cook sth books to prove their case. if you had to fly for the holidays, you've done the math and felt the pain. 30 bucks a day to park at the airport. fees for just making a reservation. more charges for checking bags. it all adds up unless you happen to be a member of congress. >> reporter: this holiday season as you sit packed into economy

class paying those extra fees, enduring canceled flights, getting bumped from your seat, consider this. the people you send to washington who regulate the airlines are receiving travel perks from the industry, and it's perfectly legal. kate hani is with a consumer advocacy group. >> there is an absolute conflict of interest between members of congress, who should be writing laws to protect airline passengers, and then taking perks from the airlines. >> reporter: case in point, while most of us have to pay for reservations when we make them, some airlines allow members of congress to double book seats on multiple flights. but unlike the average joe traveler, members of congress only pay for the flights they take. even as airlines often overbook flights. >> there's almost no seats available on planes right now because the airlines keep cutting back the number of seats that are actually available for you to sit in so they can make money on their flights. so when they double book a seat, they're actually taking up one available seat that the flying

public could have. >> another person, free parking members of congress get including here at washington's reagan national airport. >> they pay absolutely nothing for the privilege of parking here. in fact, the revenues could easily amount to a million dollars or more. >> and even though taxpayers are paying the freight, members of the house can use their frequent flier miles for personal travel, which irks some watchdog groups, because if they use the miles only for business travel, they could save the taxpayers money. >> you only earn those miles because we paid you fly back and forth as part of your job. i think they shouldn't be allowed to keep them. i think the overall problem with perks is so much of them are decided by the congressmen themselves. >> defenders say lawmakers are reasonably entitled to these perks. and why do members of congress need so much special treatment from the air travel industry? some will tell you it's because their jobs are so demanding and unpredictable, that they need special treatment in order to cope with congressional

schedules. votes can occur late at night, early in the morning, even on weekends. but it's also true that members of congress have some of the most important customers the airlines serve because they are among the people who make the rules for the industry. which is why some are upset. >> there's no separation between congress and the airlines when the airlines are allowed to offer our good senators and congressmen perks whenever they fly. they are never going to legislate a meaningful airline passenger bill of rights in the face of losing those perks. >> and while a passenger bill of rights has been put together by the senate, it hasn't yet been passed. several airlines we contacted said offering such perks is legal and cited the difficult schedules of members of congress as the main reason why they do it. though it may be little consolation, the next time you're struggling to get through america's air travel gauntlet. >> and in case you were wondering, the average salary for a member of congress is

$174,000. that includes a $5,000 raise at the beginning of 2009. so they're not completely broke, if you look at their salaries. >> well, but they're clearly not feeling how we're nickel an dimed with the $10, $25, $50 bag fees. >> it's very frustrating, too, when you look at it. these are people we hire to do our work. >> and to regulate this industry. >> with our money. >> yeah, lots of our money. actually, it's money we have to borrow but let's not into that. brooke baldian will be here after the break. is this something taken out of context or proof climate change scientists were trying to heat up their case for global warming?

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welcome back to the most news in the morning. conspiracy or taken out of context? that's what many are wondering after hackers made public some sensitive e-mails that say -- they say show scientists cooked the books to make their case for climate change. here's brooke baldwin. >> reporter: the consensus that the climate is changing, that the burning of fossil fuels is a significant factor goes way beyond the pop culture sensation of al gore'sin convenient truth and his appearance on last week's episode of "30 rock" on abc. >> kenneth, encourage your lawmakers to take action and recycle everything, including jokes.

>> i'm sorry, sir. what? >> go ahead. a whale is in trouble. i have to go. >> reporter: so when a reputable climate research institute has its computer server hacked and hundreds of its private e-mails made public, the news gets around fast, especially from groups that don't believe the global warming consensus. one e-mail attributed to the research center's director had this cryptic excerpt referring to the trick of adding in the real temps to each series to hide the decline in temperature. because there's little context in that e-mail and the others, it's hard to know what they'll add up to. the climate research unit in question here posted a message calling this e-mail hack job mischievous and saying it's helping the police investigate. senator inhofe has many years portrayed this data as a hoax and says the e-mail is evidence. >> i'm pleased by the vast and

growing number of scientists, politicians, reporters all over the world who are publicly rejecting climate alarmism. this is those who want to scare people into some kind of action. the water is going to rise up, the world is coming to an end. >> reporter: but the white house energy czar points to the 245u7b climate scientists all around the world who all agrees the climate is warming and these e-mails aren't changing that. as for the american public, according to a "washington post"/abc news poll out this week the number of americans who believe global warming is happening is down from 80% to 72% from last year. down but still a large majority. >> we really do have a global warming. the polar bears are getting in trouble and the glaciers are melting. >> i do think we tend to blow things a little out of proportion but we do need to be concerned. >> i think it is overhyped. i think some of it is attributed to man, but not all of it. >> reporter: that same "washington post"/abc news poll

shows since 2006, the increase in climate skepticism is driven largely by a shift within the republican party and independents. there was also a dip among democrats, but small. still, a majority of respondents support a national cap on greenhouse gas emissions. brooke baldwin, cnn, atlanta. >> the plot thickens. >> that is amazing. coming up, we're going to have a report on safety concerns at one of the nation's largest airports. >> that's right, newark. 1 in every 700 takeoffs or landings -- i can't remember -- >> i think it's takeoffs. >> aborted. we'll tell you why. 90s slacker hip-hop. ♪ singer: buckle up, everybody 'cause pu're taking a ride ♪

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someone you know is shopping right now making a mad early morning dash to score some holiday deals. but the black friday shopping frenzy can be dangerous, even deadly. a security guard in a suburban walmart got crushed last year. we have tips. as millions of americans are getting ready to fly home after thanksgiving, cnn has a little bit of disturbing news about safety at one of the nation's busiest airports. allan chernoff joins us here with this "a.m." original. what we're talking about is close calls on the newark airport runway. >> that's right, joe. this involves runways that intersect at newark and they're often used at the same time. federal investigators have

concluded that the landing procedures at newark sometimes have allowed planes to come much too close to each porp. >> reporter: a potential danger to the flying public. that's how federal investigators are describing the simultaneous use of intersecting runways at newark liberty international airport, one of the busiest in the nation. newark air traffic controller ray adams raised the issue after witnessing too many close calls from the control tower. on january 16th of last year, he saw two continental airplanes miss each other by only 600 feet. >> that was scary. i was there for that one personally in the control tower. it scared the heck out of everybody up there. >> reporter: potential danger arises when approaching planes need to abort their landings, which happens about every 700 flights, according to an faa analysis. any plane aborting a landing along runway 11, which runs west

to east here at newark, has to make a sharp right turn, taking it into the path of two intersecting runways. in what the faa calls go-arounds, the diverted plane has to avoid planes landing and taking off from the intersecting runway. there is little margin for error. four times last year and another four times this year, newark air traffic control allowed planes to come too close together. >> there was a distinct possibility that we could have had a collision with these operations the way they were run previously. >> reporter: adams raised the safety issue to the faa, but it went nowhere. he says his managers maintained there was no problem. yet adams persisted, taking his complaint to congress. in response, he says, he was punished, putt on paid leave for 11 months, then leave without pay for a month. the faa says the disciplinary actions had nothing to do with adams' safety concerns. adams filed a whistleblower complaint with the u.s. office

of special counsel, which led department of transportation inspector to investigate. he found merit in adams' concerns, concluding two months ago -- >> i've been vindicated at least on the safety concerns. i'd like to see some accountability on the part of the faa. >> reporter: in response, the faa promised to utilize a computer program that helps air traffic controllers stagger aircraft to ensure proper pacing. on november 5th, the department of transportation, which oversees faa told the office of special counsel the computer system had been put to use. faa implemented converging runway display identify technology at newark on october 26. the very next day in the u.s. office of special counsel learned that, in fact, the technology was no longer in use at newark. >> i am outraged. when you put the jeopardy of

human lives at risk, it can't get any more serious than that. >> reporter: faa says there was no intent to deceive anyone about what we were doing. faa safety officers wanted to make absolutely sure employees were fully trained on the equipment. last week, the office of special counsel raised the matter with president obama, writing, we found a substantial likelihood that faa officials were engaging in conduct that cons stuts gross mismanagement and a substantial and specific danger to public safety. the faa says it does plan to have the computer-assist system fully in place at newark by mid-december. meanwhile, after a year out of the control tower, ray adams returned to his regular job on wednesday. >> this is fantastic reporting. thank you for it. the thing that really troubles me -- and you see it again and again in government -- is when somebody comes forward with information that directly

relates to public safety, they get this kind of response from the people inside the government. it's a bit shocking, isn't it? >> it is very, very scary. i mean, we all know that the faa is committed to our safety. that is their task. but sometimes -- >> it's the bureaucracy. >> exactly. >> did the faa outright lie to the office of -- what's it called, special counsel -- about the use of that computer system? they explained later why they weren't using it. but did they lie to them about saying they were using it and they weren't? >> you get that impression here. but the fact is the system was actually in place, the faa says, on october 26. it was used a few days later. and then it was put out of commission. they say that they want to make sure there's coordination, proper coordination between the newark air tower and the new york region. >> why weren't they doing this already? i don't understand why you wouldn't be using this software, if it's available, to assist the

aircraft controllers in the first place. >> good question. >> why use the intersecting runways? that seems like a natural no-brainer, don't do it. >> they intersect at the very end of each other, not right in the middle. the reason that they sometimes do this simultaneous use is they want to be able to have more traffic in newark, to be able to serve the airlines there get planes in and out. >> great stuff. allan chernoff, thank you so much. incredible reporting on the aviation industry from allan. >> you can read more about allan's story on our blog cnn.com/amfix. the president of afghanistan is calling on the taliban to lay down its weapons and become part of rebuilding the war-torn nation. hamid karzai's appeal two days after a taliban leader ruled out negotiations with him, calling his administration a, quote, stooge government. and toyota's attempt to repair 3.8 million cars and trucks doesn't go far enough. that's according to safety

advocates. toyota tells owners of several different models to bring their cars to dealers to have part of the accelerator pedal cut away after two big recalls involving toyota earlier this week. it's supposed to fix a problem with floor mats jamming those pedals, make s. the carlos hard to stop. many safety advocates claim the entire pedal has to be fixed. as we kick off the holiday shopping season, the dollar is dropping to new lows and gold going through the low. slipped to a 14-year low against the yen. gold scored another record high. this is what an ounce of gold will cost you, folks. $1,195 an ounce. and with the dollar buying less these days, black friday can be a beautiful thing, an opportunity to get some bang for your buck. you're looking sat a live picture of the walmart store in marietta, georgia, right now. the bargain hunters are out bright and early, but they need

to be alert because one year ago at a walmart in new york, black friday turned deadly. and as susan candiotti reports, that tragedy has the big box store stressing safety with the savings. >> reporter: the mad dash for bargains can be funny to watch. but last thanksgiving weekend in new york, it was horrific. a long island walmart security guard was trampled to death in a stampede on black friday. arguably, the biggest shopping day of the year. >> people screaming, people coming in the store passing out, falling out. it was a horrible site. >> reporter: emanuel moultrie took us back to that walmart. he says when the doors opened at 5:00 a.m., an hour later than expected, the crowd surged forward, glass shattered and this guard was caught in a hugh man steam roller. >> you didn't esee him. they were on top of him and they were squished, compacted in there. >> reporter: moultrie said he

felt like he was swept up in a tidal wave, trapped against a vending machine. >> i said i would not hit that ground because if i hit that ground, i couldn't even get my arms to my side. >> reporter: walmart avoided criminal prosecution by agreeing, among other things, to improve crowd control at all new york stores. the giant retailer says it's voluntarily instituting changes nationwide this week. walmart declined a cnn interview. instead the company provided a pretaped stadium saying sports and entertainment control experts gave them help. >> we're committed to make our stores safer for customers and our associates this holiday season. >> reporter: changes may include snaking lines outside and inside stores, similar to airport checkpoints. and scattering sales items. some stores will remain open 24 hours starting thanksgiving day through the weekend. so when black friday sales start at 5:00 a.m., shoppers can already be inside, possibly avoiding chaos. for shoppers up before dawn for door buster deals at any

retailer, this safety vils from police. >> if you see pushing and shoving and arguing for no valid reason, you know you have a potential problem right here. if that's the case, i'd walk to the end of the line, let them all go in. >> reporter: emanuel moultrie, who received a settlement from walmart, said he won't be burned again. >> if you reach a store and see that that behavior is not being demonstrated, you need to leave fast. leave fast. >> reporter: as part of its agreement with prosecutors, walmart paid nearly $2 million to a victims fund and a community grant. osha cited the retailer for exposing its employees to danger when it should have known better. walmart says in a statement safety is always a top priority. susan candiotti, cnn new york. >> one thing, joe, struck me about that report that walmart said it had consulted sports and entertainment crowd management people to help them. think of shopping on the day after thanksgiving in america as a sport or an entertainment.

i mean, it just kind of shows you what has happened in this country we're obsessed with consumerism even still after a recession. >> it's amazing at this day and age. now it's all going back, though. people are saying we're going back to the old ways. >> maybe, maybe. we'll find out. maybe today we'll know for sure. he's still a young man but this young man is already making an extraordinary difference for kids half his age. he was named cnn's 2009 hero of the year and created a classroom on wheels to give kid at risk in the philippines an alternative to gangs. recently i had the privilege to speak with him and ask him how it felt to win the award. >> it's overwhelming. and it's unbelievable. so i could not believe that this thing is happening to us. >> could you ever imagine international recognition for your program? did you ever think that so many people would know and would say, look, you're our hero? >> no, we never expected to be

in this situation. it's really god's blessing to us. >> let's talk about the push cart classrooms. you saw a need in your country. you saw a need for children to have the opportunity to learn. tell me a little bit about your program and what you bring and provide to those children. >> yes. a lot of kids are -- can't go to -- don't have an opportunity to go to the school, so what we do is bring the school to them. we use a push cart. the push cart has a built-in blackboard shelf. we bring books and learning materials. and we have also play center where children can play for a certain period of time. we also have clinic where we bring medicine for first aid kit where we teach -- where we treat their wounds and some hygiene

programs as well. so that's what we do the whole day. >> some of these children who you used to tutor are former gang members, drug addicts, who are now working alongside you. how does that feel to see that you are making this difference in these kids' lives and giving them a chance to escape the grip of poverty and crime? >> it's really fulfilling. just to see these kids learning how to read and write and these kids joining us instead of joining gangs and being productive. it's really fulfilling on our part. >> it must be amazing to see, you know, every child, no matter where they live or what their circumstances, efren, every child has a chance to learn and take their young life and have a chance to grow it and do something with it. and you've given them that little bit of a help, that

little bit of a thing. how do they respond? >> before -- at first, some of them are interested because instead of joining us, they want to scavenge and to play in streets and to beg. but after our mentor told us, advised us to bring food. so that's the main motivation. then if you're not going to give something to them, they will not listen to you. so what we did, we bring bags of food. then before we give the food to them, we first teach them. so now a lot of children are interested. they are very excited. they are motivated aside from the food that they are getting. it's -- it's the love for

learning we were able to develop in their hearts. >> efren pena floriflorida. congratulations. bringing food for us, getting the kids to sit in front of the blackboard, teach them a little bit. you saw the blackboard on the push cart. kids who never would have had any access to learning at all and who are scavenging for food get fed in two ways by him. then they keep coming back. >> such a powerful story. when he got the award, watching the show last night. just amazing. he was almost overcome just trying to hold it all together. >> he said he can't imagine what he'll be able to do. he had a monetary award, too. he'll be able to take it back and what he can do for his program. literally the number of lives and brains that he'll be able to save and nurture because of that award and that money. it was really pretty emotional. great stuff. lots more to come. it is 40 minutes past the hour 37 and this is his new chevy, what sold you? i can return it.

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♪ here comes santa claus ♪ here comes santa claus right down santa claus lane ♪ welcome back to the most news in the morning. now that thanksgiving is over, we can start working on the next one. to millions he goes just by one name, santa. >> and he is a very familiar face, especially this time of year. and this morning, our ted rollins introduces us to five big bearded friends making a difference this holiday.

>> reporter: these are five santas with some incredible stories. bob gerardy is a real tor. bobby els, a retired deputy sheriff. elloyd ray retired train conductor who now drives this santa con virtable. dave strum retired from the phone company now a gun smith and art brown is a politician. they each had thousands of kids sit on their laps. >> most of us have gotten a beard full of whatever the child is eating at the moment. here, santa, have a bite. >> reporter: they also have stories about children with nothing asking for things for their parents and heartbreaking requests from kid asking santa for a miracle like bringing loved ones back from the dead. >> i've been asked to have mom or dad come back. i've been asked for a liver transplant or a kidney transplant for one of the parents. >> those are tough. >> they're very difficult. >> had one mother -- one kid says, all i want is a new diaper

bag for my new baby for my mother. they don't have anything but they think of other people. >> reporter: sometimes the santas can help, like dave's story on getting a family's power turned on. >> having worked for a utility company, i had a little insight on how we can do that and we got their power turned back on. >> reporter: as a rule, the santas never promise anything, though kids definitely ask. >> as they tell me what they want, i see the parents in the background -- >> yeah. how do you handle that? >> i tell them, i'm sure that you're going to love what santa will bring you. >> reporter: these santas are members of the fraternal order of real bearded santas. bob and eloy get their beards colored. the group gets together throughout the year for santa pool parties and dinners. they recently went to see the movie "a christmas carol." >> i've never seen the movie "bad santa," by the way. >> reporter: they say they're recognized all year by children and are always ready to answer questions like, are you the real santa? >> we have the best way of

getting around that. santa has lots of helpers, but there's only one santa. it's up for you to decide which one is the real santa. >> reporter: the pay isn't great. in fact, a lot of santa work is volunteer. the smiles they get is enough, they say, like the one bob says he got from a disabled girl he saw who had pneumonia. >> this little girl had a smile on her face from ear to ear that wouldn't stop and broke my heart. i just sitting there looking -- she was obviously just overjoyed to be there. >> reporter: the next time you see a smiling child on santa's lap, know that the man behind the beard is probably smiling, too. ted rollins, cnn, los angeles. >> that's just amazing. obviously, you see these santas with all these kids on their laps. you never think about what's going on in those little conversations. >> and how they have to keep such a straight face. i love that, "i'm sure you'll love what santa brings you." such a great answer. coming up, we talk to jacqui

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♪ ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] every penny counts. so does every moment. make the most of both this holiday season with great gifts at great prices from l.l. bean. ♪ good morning, charlotte, where right now it's clear and 39 degrees. sunny and 53 later today when you heat up the mashed potatoes and gravy and have leftover turkey. nice day outside. >> i spent a couple of

thanksgivings in that town. jacqui jeras is out there right now. we were looking here at least in new york at a wonderful day here out for the parade. and now i walked out the door a little while ago. it's a bit cooler, at least in our part of the world. >> oh, yeah. watch out for the wet weather to go along with that. and by, say, 6:00 tonight, you can add windy into the mix. not going to be a fun day. you shoppers are going to need an umbrella with you if you're headed out the door this morning. you can see for the most part just light rain. scattered light rain, so kind of a pain in the you know what more than anything else. temperatures staying cool. as i mentioned, as that front comes on through, we will watch the winds begin to kick up. in fact, the winds could gust as much as 50, 60 miles an hour especially places in the adirondacks and catskills as well. be aware of that later toblt today. when you see those kind of mixes in the weather forecast, you know travel will be difficult. a lot of people trying to get back home today. expect delays in the d.c. metros

and the delays will get later and longer when the winds start to kick in. miami, ft. lauderdale, minor delays due to the wind here and san francisco will see low cloud, rain and wind today as well. we saw that picture of charlotte, beautiful morning there. but it certainly is cool. the windchill feeling like 35 to your body. 27 in atlanta. temperatures in afternoon in the southeast warming up into the 50s. we'll see 40s across the northern tier. so the big temperature story, we're looking at a good five to ten degrees below average. while it's cool in the east, it's warm in the nation's midsection from dallas to the dakotas, temperatures pushing 10 to 25 degrees above average. chris. >> thanks, jacqui. this morning's top stories minutes away, including we're learning more about the brazen pair that crashed the white house state dinner. turns out the two have spent quite a bit of time in court. we'll explain. and the republican party's ten new commandments a purity test of ten resolutions that

candidates pledge to fulfill. but would ronald reagan make the grade? and an eye-opening study on diabetes. new research predicts the number of cases will double and the cost to treat them will triple. we're going to break it all down at the top of the hour 37 i love winter. with my subaru forester and its all-wheel drive... ... handling even the toughest conditions... is just another day at the beach. - kids: cup-cakes! cup-cakes! cup-ccup-cakes!-cakes! - come on. cup-- re-do! re-do! ( stove dings ) cup-cakes! cup-cakes! cup-cakes! ( cheering ) announcer: relax. pam helps you pull it off. upbeat rock ♪ so i could hear myself myseas a ringtone ♪hone ♪

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all right. welcome back to the most news in the morning. first it was "the sopranos," many italian americans uneasy with the stereo typing with the

character tony soprano. >> now a new reality show called "jersey shore." before the first episode is even aired italian americans are up in arms again. they feel they're portrayed as bimbos and buffoons. here's jeanne moos. >> reporter: just what new jersey need, another slap. >> new series "jersey shore." >> reporter: what's creating waves is the way italians come across in this reality series. >> i'm going to jersey shore, [ bleep ]. >> i love quido. >> i love quidos. >> four of the hottest craziest quidos. >> reporter: the "g" word greats on andre's nerve, president of eunicko, an organization that would love "jersey shore" to be canceled. even though it hasn't yet aired. >> they keep the hair high. >> takes 25 minutes to do my hair. >> going to the lowest common

denominator. >> reporter: you have nice hair. >> thank you. >> reporter: but it's not spiked up. it's up, though. >> that's right. >> reporter: the reality show gets hairy. it's about a group of 20-somethings who share a summer rental in seaside heights, new jersey. >> i'm good looking, well groomed at times. very, very good with the ladies. >> they show them being arrested, fighting, you know, hitting a girl. a girl kissing a girl. it's just trash. >> reporter: but isn't this normal reality show fare? >> what's the insult on injury here is they connected it so closely to being italian american. >> reporter: the last show eunicko protested was the sopranos . >> [ bleep ], where's my [ bleep ]. what are you crying about hmo? you're covered. >> reporter: the cast of "jersey shore" makes tony soprano seem mod pes. >> you can hate on me but what can you say about somebody who looks like rambo with the shirt off. >> reporter: mtv released a statement saying -- but he's not

buying the an throw poe logical information. >> the mtv stands for empty. it's an empty network now. >> reporter: his wife agrease. >> looks like that show girls gone wild about. >> they call the girl a guidettes. >> i don't think i'm a guidette. >> you never know at the jersey shore what's going to go down. >> reporter: has he ever had gel in his hair? >> i've been to the jersey shore. it was a few years ago. it was never like that. >> yeah. they always sort of -- >> it's entertainment, i think, but -- >> emphasizes certain points and de-emphasizes certain others. >> look, i'm sorry, new jersey. new jersey is the garden state, you know. it's this nice place where you grow tomatoes. it's all just an entertainment. >> no problem with it. yeah, right. okay. top stories coming up in about 90 seconds. it's 58 minutes after the hour.

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of the scheduled maintenance at no cost. and during the sign then drive event, you can get a cc, jetta, or top safety-rated tiguan for practically just your signature. it's that easy. i can't believe it. [ whoosh! ] [ humming ] [ engine revs ] ♪ [ tires screech ] [ pen scratches ] i can believe it. yep. [ male announcer ] sign then drive is back. hurry in and get legendary volkswagen value for practically just your signature. ♪ welcome back. i'm christine romance in for kyra chetry on this day after thanksgiving, friday, november 27th. >> perky, aren't we? >> new hour. >> i'm in for john roberts. very exciting day. we're watching the malls of course. here are the stories we'll be telling you about in the next 15 minutes or so. the annual stampedes have

begun. crowds are surging into stores in search of deep discounts. it may be called black friday, but today retailers are actually hoping to see some green, if you know what i'm talking about. and this morning, we're live and hitting the stores early. are elected officials in washington flying very friendly skies these days while most of us get hit with one infuriating fee after another at the airport? members of congress are getting freebies and perks from the airline industry. oh, by the way, the airline industry is an industry they also happen to regulate and guess what, it's all perfectly legal. and new controversy over climate change. computer hackers target some of the world's top researchers. this morning, we've got details of what leaked e-mails reveal. but first, the black friday bargain hunting has begun. for many, it began in the dead of the night with door busters and early bird specials. retailers are desperately trying to get consumers to pry open their wallets in this recession and forget that black friday means they're trying to get in the black, not the retailers.

our adrianna haulser is live at the macy's here in new york city. what's the scene like? >> reporter: hi. the crowds are definitely picking up. the doors opened at 5:00 a.m. and at that moment, before the doors opened, there were about 300 people that we could see in the entrances that we could see. but as the morning progressed, there's more and more people. the store is a very large store, so you can definitely see some space in between people. but it's getting more and more crowded. people are determined to shop. the best deals happen in the first part of the day and around 1:00. then after that, the deals will become more of a a typical holiday season specials. christine, this is an important black friday because we are seeing mixed economic indicators. the national retail federation expect that this year there will be 16% more shoppers hitting the store, but they still expect a 1% decline in the total of sales for the season. christine? >> all right, adrianna hauser,

thanks so much. while retailers in the red hoping to put their books in the black, on wall street it's shaping up to be a red arrow day. markets overseas have been heading south all morning, the drop fueled in part by the debt crisis in dubai. our stephanie elam here joins us now giving us the latest. so what is the late snels. >> it's really a debt crisis of one entity we're looking at right now. just to freeze and give you some idea here. it was enough to tank the asian markets while we were busy enjoying turkey and sweet potato pie. that's with a i was baking. while we think about this, the rest of the markets across the globe were open. nikkei lost more than 3%. the hang seng in hong kong off nearly 5%, same with the kop sy in south korea. taking it on the chin. i have to tell you the ftse in london is off but fractionally. seems to taper as it comes this way but the futures off 200 points. we do have a truncated trading session today.

but here's the issue. this company dubai world, which is basically the financial arm of dubai. it's state-owned here. they've requested to just not pay anything on their debt for six months and they have a debt of about $60 billion. imagine if you had a mortgage on your house and you were like for six months i'm just not going to pay you. how is that working for you? that will cause a problem for a lot of banks. this issue spread around -- people were very concerned about what this meant for investors. they're looking for safe havens, so they went to places like the yen, the u.s. dollar totally getting hit, a 14-year low against the yen. this is the reason why we care about this. when we look at a story like this the reason we care is because of exposure banks if the united states may have. right now we don't have a lot of information on that. we'll be be looking at that but it's compounded because we have the eid in the middle east. there are a lot of people not in the office and you had thanks giving here in the united states. we were taking a look at some of

the comments out of dubai world. they called it, a quote, a sensible business decision in published reports we're seeing this. we can expect more information early next week. it's also believed that probably saudi arabia, other companies will come in and back them. there's a lot of money in the middle east. no one is saying they're going bankrupt. it's all about how are they going to handle the debt payments here. but panic button pushed around there but looks like it may kind of calm down by the time it gets here. not as bad as it looked overseas. >> rattled by debt concerns in dubai and we just have to wait to see -- it's uncertain what the spillover will be for american banks and american markets. >> exactly. >> thanks, stephanie. we're beginning to find out more about the couple from virginia that crashed is a white house state dinner tuesday night. when they're not slipping pals security to rub elbows with washington's elite, they happen to be spending a lot of time in court. tareq and michaele salahi named in 16 lawsuits, such as plaintiffs and defendants. they filed for chapter 7

bankruptcy in september. a spokesman for the couple says they'll take their story public on a media junket next week. in the hours leading up to that state dinner they crashed, the salahis were followed around washington by a reality tv crew. >> no! >> you got it. the bravo network confirming michaele salahi is being considered for a role in the upcoming "real housewives of d.c." show. a spokesman for bravo says the couple informed the show's producers they were invited guests at the white house and that there was no reason not to believe them. so somebody got tricked there. >> mm-hmm, i'd say so. >> what it sounds like. if you're holiday travel plans have you flying this thanksgiving, you've done the accounting and you experienced the pain especially if you're trying to carry a little baby gear and all that stuff. >> 30 bucks a day to park at the airport and then there's more. those infuriating fees just for making a reservation, more charges for checking bags.

it's all going to add up. of course, unless you happen to be a member of congress. >> reporter: this holiday season, as you sit packed into economy class paying those extra fees, enduring canceled flights, getting bumped from your seat, consider this. the people you send to washington who regulate the airlines are receiving travel perks from the industry. and it's perfectly legal. kate hanni is with a consumer advocacy group. >> there is an absolute conflict of interest between members of congress who should be writing laws to protect airline passengers and then taking perks from the airlines. >> reporter: case in point. while most of us have to pay for reservations when we make them, some airlines allow members of congress to double book seats on multiple flights. but unlike the average joe traveler, members of congress only pay for the flights they take, even as airlines often overbook flights. >> there's almost no seats available on planes right now

because the airlines keep cutting back the number of seats that are actually available for you to sit in so they can make money on their flights. so when they double book a seat, they're actually taking up one available seat that the flying public could have. >> reporter: another perk, free parking members of congress get, including here at washington's reagan national airport. >> they pay absolutely nothing for the privilege of parking here. in fact, the revenues could easily amount to a million dollars or more. >> reporter: and even though taxpayers are paying the freight, members of the house can use their frequent flier miles for personal travel, which irks some watchdog groups, because if they use the miles only for business travel, they could save the taxpayers money. >> you only earn those miles because we paid you to fly back and forth as part of your job. i think they shouldn't be allowed to keep them. i think the overall problem with perks is so much of them are decided by the congressmen themselves. >> reporter: defenders say lawmakers are reasonably entitled to these perks.

why do members of congress need so much special treatment from the air travel industry? some will tell you it's because their jobs are so demanding and unpredictable that they need special treatment in order to cope with congressional schedules. votes can occur late at night, early in the morning, even on weekends. but it's also true that members of congress are some of the most important customers the airlines serve because they are among the people who make the rules for the industry. which is why some are upset. >> there is no separation between congress and the airlines when the airlines are allowed to offer our good senators and congressmen perks whenever they fly. they are never going to legislate a meaningful airline passenger bill of rights in the face of losing those perks. >> and while a passenger bill of rights has been put together by the senate, it hasn't yet been passed. several airlines we contacted said offering such perks is legal and cited the difficult schedules of members of congress as the main reason why they do it. though it may be little consolation the next time you're

struggling to get through america's air travel gauntlet. >> and if you're justifying this by saying these guys are people with government salaries and they don't get paid that much, the average salary for a member of the house or senate is about $174,000 a year. >> and they get to give themselves their own raise. that's what i love. would you like to be able to give yourself your raise? >> it's great work if you can get it, plus the perks and benefits you decide. next after the break we're going to talk about the economy and talk about dubai and what it could mean for u.s. markets and for this recovery that we've seniority beginnings of a recovery. we're going to find out what we can be thankful for in the american economy right after the break. national car rental knows i'm picky. so, at national, i go right past the counter... and you get to choose any car in the aisle. choose any car? you cannot be serious!

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we set out looking for bright spots in the economy, things to be thankful for in troubled times. millions of americans are hitting the stores, retailers hoping consumer confidence will bounce back. many economists say things are getting better, they're beginning to get better. but our unemployment rate still over 10%. this morning, a potential disaster for the global economy at least a concern rattling nerves here. dubai possibly having to default on a $60 billion worth of debt. is this what it looks like. diane, let me start with you. nerves are rattled by what's happening in dubai. dubai world, a company that we in this country probably most know because its ports unit tried to buy the operations of our ports a few years ago with some political firestorm surmding it. how important is what's happening in dubai on its debt

with the financial system and the world economy? >> people are worried certainly about the exposure but let's not forget the mideast country particularly dubai have been the atm for a lot of the world the last few years. if they're in trouble, much like we worry about china in trouble that's seen as a barometer for the health of the world economy. it's the level of debt and the fact it's dubai which had its own bubble that they're in trouble may default also sets off jitters that may be above and beyond the actual dollar value. >> holidays in the middle east and here so we have to sort of see how the governments react, what kind of bailout they may be trying to put together. in the meantime, we're watching, ryan, all of these people coming to the doors of the malls in the middle of the night. can i ask you how does black friday fit into your recommendations for personal finance? >> it doesn't. it doesn't at all. i always tell individuals there will always be another sale. one of the oldest ploys is to tell you there's a 50% off sale,

30% off sale as if there is never a sale to come behind that. come to think of it, the individuals may have bought the clothes for $25 and marked it up to $100 and mark it down to $50 and 50% off sale. they're still making 100% profit. it's a scam as far as i'm concerned. >> is it emblematic of the consumer craziness that we end a holiday with crowd sports experience that involves spending money on stuff? >> i think it's problematic when you have stories like last year when individuals are trampled and killed at walmart to purchase items when we're not trampling to put money into savings accounts or retirement or 401(k) plans. this is what we should be trampling for. at the end of the day it's good marketing but we should market something a little more responsible. >> we saw earlier pictures at walmart in marietta where the gps was sold out but you were steered along the line of door buster deals. you could see someone, didn't

get the gps, you keep buying other things. as if the retailers tapped into our 2005 brain to try to convince us, diane, that they want us to keep spending. >> and i have to say that i actually like a little bit of irresponsibility. 70% of this economy is fueled by consumers. and the fact is retail prices are still low. we were expecting them to actually go higher this year. so i think the fact that people are seeing bargains and getting out there and shopping is good news for the economy. they're not going to be able to overextend themselves the way they did in 2005, but you want to see them having the confidence to go out and stand in line at 5:00 in the morning. >> what else are you thankful for about the economy now? >> actually the stock market, even though it will probably be vul nashlg to the dubai news, i think one of the things is this time last year we were talking possible depression. we've avoided a depression. yes, there may be a double dip, people are worried but the stock market has gone up 63% since march. that may be a bubble, but the reality is that's a sign of

confidence that investors have and i think that's something to be thankful for, because it could have very much gone the other way. >> what do you think of the economy thankful. >> 2% savings rate. at the end of the day i would rather have a 1% o 2% growth rate in gdp sustainable as opposed to six% or 7% we have seen with the sugar high spending. i'm glad that individuals are spending but let's do smart spending and put money into our retirement and then figure out how much is left over to see how much we can go out and splurge on things like black friday. >> you said earlier you were pleased with the economy growing at 3.5%, then it was revised to 2.8%. but you're still glad we're seeing green arrows. >> like diane said, we have to echo that. we pulled ourselves back from the brink of a huge depression. i think the government did a lot of spending in the right places. back and forth on whether the spending was right or wrong in that. but at the end of the day, we did pull ourselves out of a big debacle. i'm happy with the savings race.

>> we've pulled back. now the repair begins. that's where we are. diane brady, ryan mack. thank you so much. it's 17 minutes after the hour. if toyota gets credit for being the most fuel efficient car company in america, well, then how do you explain all this? chevy malibu, cobalt, silverado, and the all-new equinox. compare them to anyone. may the best car win. what's a good gift for a family? ♪ how 'bout three computers ♪ ♪ complete with windows seven ♪ ♪ and a wireless router ♪ set up by geek squad? wow. three? ♪ when everyone can get online ♪ ♪ all at once, at the same time ♪ ♪ you won't have to fight ♪ ♪ you won't have to bite ♪ ♪ and you won't act like a bunch of animals ♪ [ male announcer ] get a desktop, laptop, and netbook

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welcome back to the most news in the morning. is it a conspiracy or all taken out of context? that's what a lot of people are wondering after hackers made public sensitive e-mails they say show scientists cooked the books to make their case for climate change. here's brooke baldwin. >> consensus that the climate is

changing that the burning of fossil fuels is a factor goes way beyond the pop culture al gore's inconvenient truth and his appearance on "30 rock" of nbc. >> encourage you to recycle everything. a whale is in trouble. i have to go. >> reporter: so when a reputable climate research institute has its computer server hacked and hundreds of its private e-mails made public, the news gets around fast, especially from groups that don't believe the global warming consensus. one e-mail attributed to the research center's director had this cryptic excerpt referring to the, quote, trick of adding in the real temps to each series to hide the decline in temperature. because there's little context in that e-mail and the others, it's hard to know what they'll add up to. the climate research unit in question here posted a message calling this e-mail hack job

mischievous and saying it's helping the police investigate. senator james inhofe has for many years portrayed this data showing the warming trend as a hoax and sees the e-mail as evidence. >> i'm pleased by the vast and growing number of scientists, politicians, reporters all over the world who are publicly rejecting climate alarmism. alarmism. this is those who want to scare people into some kind of action. the water is going to rise up, the world is coming to an end. >> reporter: but the white house energy czar points to the 2500 climate scientists all around the world who all agree the climate is warming and these e-mails aren't changing that. as for the american public, according to a "washington post"/abc news poll out this week the number of americans who believe global warming is happening is down from 80% to 72% from last year. down but still a large majority. >> we really do have a global warming. the polar bears are getting in trouble and the glaciers are melting.

>> i do think we tend to blow things a little bit out of proportion but we do need to be concerned. >> i think it is overhyped. i think some of it is attributed to man, but not all of it. >> reporter: that same "washington post"/abc news poll shows since 2006, the increase in climate skepticism is driven largely by a shift within the republican party and independents. there was also a dip among democrats, but small. still, a majority of respondents support a national cap on greenhouse gas emissions. brooke baldwin, cnn, atlanta. coming up, a really compelling and scary story that you all want to listen to about a runway danger at one of the nation's busiest airports. something that is affecting 1 in every 700 inbound flights. allan chernoff with that startling report. you make your own payment plan for what you charge. introducing blueprint. blueprint's free and exclusively for chase customers.

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you can get scheduled maintenance at no cost. there's gotta be more to it than that. [ car door closes, tires screech ] [ engine revs ] ♪ [ tires screech ] [ pen scratches ] [ camera shutter clicks ] i'll never doubt you again. [ male announcer ] sign then drive is back. hurry in and get legendary volkswagen value for practically just your signature. ♪ ♪ or practically just your signature. ♪ ♪ [ male announcer ] every penny counts. so does every moment. make the most of both this holiday season with great gifts at great prices from l.l. bean. ♪ how's your daughter, manny? good. we were just going over prescription drug plans. medicare, huh? (manny) umm-huh.

i'm there next year. yeah, every year during open enrollment i can review my plan. mine still works for me. now how 'bout a plan for up here? (whistles) uh-uh. (announcer) now's the time to review your medicare prescription drug and health plans. visit medicare.gov or call 1-800-medicare. ♪ don't wanna talk about it it's kind of rainy, a little cloudy morning right now in new york city. 47 degrees. you can't even see the top of the empire state building. maybe save the 14 bucks for the ticket today, folks. later it will be rainy and 47 in the big apple. welcome back to the most news in the morning. this is a busy time for airports. millions of americans preparing to fly home after the thanksgiving holiday. >> now comes word of serious

safety concerns at one of the busiest airports in the nation. allan chernoff with an "a.m." original. this involves close calls and aborted landings at newark airport. and also there's a story here of a whistle-blower who came up with a lot of information that wasn't received so well. >> he was very concerned about the fact that there are intersecting runways at newark airport that are used at the same time. and now federal investigators have concluded the landing procedures at newark sometimes have allowed planes to come much too close to each other. >> reporter: a potential danger to the flying public. that's how federal investigators are describing the simultaneous use of intersecting runways at newark liberty international airport, one of the busiest in the nation. newark air traffic controller ray adams raised the issue after witnessing too many close calls from the control tower. on january 16th of last year, he

saw two continental planes miss each other by only 600 feet. >> that was scary. i was there for that one personally in the control tower. it scared the heck out of everybody up there. >> reporter: potential danger arises when approaching planes need to abort their landings, which happens about every 700 flights, according to an faa analysis. any plane aborting a landing along runway 11, which runs west to east here at newark, has to make a sharp right turn, taking it into the path of two intersecting runways. in what the faa calls go-arounds, the diverted plane has to avoid planes landing and taking off from the intersecting runway. there is little margin for error. four times last year and another four times this year, newark air traffic control allowed planes to come too close together. >> there was a distinct possibility that we could have had a collision with these operations the way they were run

previously. >> reporter: adams raised the safety issue to the faa, but it went nowhere. he says his managers maintained there was no problem. yet adams persisted, taking his complaint to congress. in response, he says, he was punished, put on paid leave for 11 months, then leave without pay for a month. the faa says the disciplinary actions had nothing to do with adams' safety concerns. adams filed a whistleblower complaint with the u.s. office of special counsel, which led department of transportation inspector general calvin skovall to investigate. he found merit in adams' concerns, concluding two months ago -->> i've been vindicated at least on the safety concerns. i'd like to see some accountability on the part of the faa. >> reporter: in response, the faa promised to utilize a computer program that helps air traffic controllers stagger aircraft to ensure proper spacing. on november 5th, the department of transportation, which

oversees faa, told the office of special counsel the computer system had been put to use. faa implemented converging runway display aid technology at newark on october 26. the very next day in the u.s. office of special counsel learned that, in fact, the technology was no longer in use at newark. >> i am outraged. when you put the jeopardy of human lives at risk, it can't get any more serious than that. >> reporter: faa says there was no intent to deceive anyone about what we were doing. faa safety officers wanted to make absolutely sure employees were fully trained on the equipment. last week, the office of special counsel raised the matter with president obama, writing, we found a substantial likelihood that faa officials were engaging in conduct that constitutes gross mismanagement and a substantial and specific danger to public safety.

the faa says it plans to have the computer system fully operational at newark by mid-december. after a year out of the control tower, ray adams returned to his regular job on wednesday. >> okay. so let's talk about intent here. do you have any sense as to whether the faa was actually trying to mislead the office of special counsel about the computer assistance -- >> you get the impression it seems that way. but i don't believe that's what happened here. the faa is saying that indeed the computer system was in place on october 26, was in place a few days after that, but following november 6th, it was no longer operational there. >> why not immediately implement -- if you've got software that's available to help these air traffic controllers and the pilots, why wouldn't you be using -- i don't understand why you wouldn't be using it in the first place. >> apparently there are training issues as the faa says. also, there needs to be coordination between the newark air traffic control and the new york region air traffic control.

apparently, that coordination had not been put in place. but, clearly, there's something here that can help the air traffic controllers and it clearly should be in place. >> and we talked a little bit about this earlier. the question of intersecting runways. so the bottom line on using intersecting runways is, what, to try to get your planes off faster? >> well, you've got lots of planes that need to come in and come out of the airport. and when you have intersecting runways and they're not intersecting right in the middle, only at the very end, that allows more traffic at newark airport. so it's helping the airlines there, particularly continental, which is the big airline at newark airport. >> considering the volume of air travel in this country, allan, your reports on air safety have been incredibly important. thank you. you can read more about the report on runway danger at our blog cnn.com/amfix. checking the top stories, part of the thanks giving

tradition, black friday as it's called. bargain hunters are hitting the stores in search of those deep discounts. and there is good news for the cash-starved retailers. some experts predict the crowds will be a little thicker this year compared to last year. we're watching your money this morning. markets overseas in negative territory over fears of dubai's debt situation. japan's nikkei closed down more than 3%. hong kong's hang seng also down by more than 4%. right now the dow futures are down by more than 24u7b points. and iranian authorities have seized the nobel prize medal obtained by a human rights attorney who won it for promoting democracy in iran. he said the revolution rif court ordered them to take it from her safe deposit box earlier this month. she also claims the iranian government is trying to seize her home. the republican party has been soul searching since the race for new york's 23rd

district dissolved into party infighting last month. the core question is the party moderate or is the party conservative? if our next guest has his way, it will be conservative. republican national committee member james bop is proposing what many are calling a gop purity test. the real title is reagan's unity principle of support for candidates. jim bach, good morning for you. thank you for coming on "american morning." >> thank you for having me on. >> so i guess the first question, the bottom line question is -- lay it out for us, if you have will. if you were going to have a purity test -- and i don't know if you have agree with that label -- what would be the elements of it? what are the kinds of things that go into the conservative republican candidate that you'd like to see? >> well, the question is what candidate should the republican national committee support with its financial resources.

and our view is that the problem that the republican party has is restoring trust among conservatives. we lost our way in the bush administration with too much spending, too much debt. and then bailouts. so we've got to show that we're serious about restoring our conservative bona fides. and we want to do that by saying that if a candidate wants the money of the republican national committee, they need to agree with at least most of the conservative principles that are -- that have been adopted by the republican party in this platform. >> it gets a little harder, though, doesn't it, when you start applying some of these tests to individuals who perchance might already be in congress, say -- or a senator -- >> well -- >> think of richard lugar, for example. is a guy like the kind of guy you think would be elected under this test? >> well, yes, he is. and the -- and what we've done is we have a list of ten

specific items that are currently being debated in congress -- cap and trade, obamacare, government funding of abortion -- and what we are saying is in this election cycle, our canndidates, if they're in congress we will judge them by their vote. have they voted 80% of the time with the republican position? if they're a candidate, it will be their public support, for like the stimulus package. if they supported it or voted for it, well, then that's a black mark against you. but what we're also saying, in addition to being loyal to republican party principles as reflected in current public policy debate is we also accept and welcome people of diverse views. that's why we say 80%. ronald reagan said that somebody who agrees with us 80% of the time is our friend, not our enemy. we need to allow as a large national party that expects to retake congress that people can

disagree with us on specific items. but you must really agree with us most of the time if you want our money. >> now, let me ask you. you just mentioned ronald reagan. and i know some people on the left have had fun with this suggesting that people like ronald reagan or george w. bush even, because they go outside of some of these tenets, might not have been able to stand up to this test. for the record, do you think ronald reagan actually would have been able to make it under the test as you've laid it out? >> every conservative knows that ronald reagan -- and even liberals know that ronald reagan was the most conservative president in the last 100 years. no question about it. but remember what i said. the -- we are talking about ten current items being debated in congress like cap and trade or victory in iraq and afghanistan or obamacare. well, none of those things were being voted on in congress in the 1980s. if we had a list of specific items that we wanted our

candidates to support and our members of congress to support, we'd have said reagan tax cuts, support of the contras, missile defense. and of course ronald reagan was a great advocate of all those conservative positions. but look at this. the republican party is not going to take the advice of liberal democrats on what they think we should do. i mean, harethey're afraid we'l restore our conservative bona fides. the last thing they want to do is to demonstrate to the american public that we are serious about being a conservative party. >> one question that's also raised, i guess the overarching question, is whether you all are sort of running against your own interests here. mark mckinnon -- i think we have a graphic of something he said -- this is an old bush strategist. he said --

so are you going to end up shrinking your tent by driving the moderate or liberal, if you will, republicans out of the party? >> no. that's not the problem at all. the problem is that more than 40% of the american public, the highest ever, self identify as conservatives, but less than 20% identify themselves as republicans. that's the gap that we have to bridge. we have got to bring half the disaffected conservatives that are disaffected back into the republican party ranks. if we had the support of conservatives as we should, as the conservative party, then we will be very successful in elections. ronald reagan, the most conservative president ever, after his first four years, won 49 states out of 50. the conservative message resonates throughout the country in nearly every part of the

country. we can be a majority party if we just simply restore our conservative credentials. >> well, it will certainly be interesting to see how this goes for you. and i know a lot of people on the left made fun of it. on the other hand, i was around when the contract with america came through with the same sort of idea. so let's see how it plays in the comingksjibopp. a christmas tree farm that >> thank you for having me on. supplies their fourth official white house christmas tree. there it is. i think it's a douglas fir. it smells like a douglas fir when it's cut like that. >> and comes from west virginia, i hear. they're bringing it in with all the pomp and circumstance due the white house. and this first couple, their first christmas in the white house. >> all right. so we're going to have that for you right after the break.

♪ i'll have a blue christmas without you ♪ nothing says christmas like elvis. first lady michelle obama will be presented with the official white house christmas tree today. >> and the owners of that tree that won the honor say it was a complete surprise. dan lothian has more in an "a.m." original. >> reporter: christine, joe, first ladies have welcomed

official christmas trees to the white house since 1929. this year's tree comes from a farm in shepherd's town, west virginia, from a paver farmers who have been here before. >> this is the baby here now. we have to figure out how we're going to get this loaded. for eric and gloria sunback, this is a holiday tradition. growing a christmas tree fit for a president. >> you're helping make a christmas for the whole country. >> reporter: the west virginia couple, both in their 80s, have grown four presidential christmas trees -- one for jimmy carter, two for ronald reagan and now this 18 1/2 foot douglas fir destined for the obama white house. >> what we really like this year is that it's going to a family. the children are there. the family is well knit. >> reporter: to provide the white house tree, a farmer has to be crowned by the national christmas tree association. then white house officials make a visit. >> they're looking for trees

that have good form and for trees that have stronger branchs because they use a lot of decorations. >> reporter: and it takes a lot of hard work to grow that perfect presidential tree. careful pruning, experimenting to get the right mix of characteristics, and a little tough love. >> she had a word with it. when she'd get up in the morning, get out, things are going -- well, fellows, you want to be a christmas tree now or are you going to wait until later and be toilet paper? and that gets the tree growing. >> reporter: these college sweethearts who have been growing trees for 50 years are hoping to shake the obamas' hands when they drop off this holiday gift. but then it's back to work. >> you don't want to let it go to your head because you have to come back and work again. >> that's right. you're right. >> reporter: but they say they're happy knowing their gift will bring joy to the first family. >> we hope they enjoy it as much

as we've enjoyed christmas's kids. if the tree is good and they enjoy it, that's what it's about. >> reporter: the tree will be decorated and displayed in the blue room, where it will take center stage to a host of white house holiday celebrations. christine, joe? >> all right. so your grandma's house, kids are running wild, now you have to figure out how to get home. a snowstorm in the northeast and freeze warning in the south. >> what would it be this time of year without a little bit of trouble up there in the skies. so we're going to be to jacqui jeras in a couple minutes. like working with a supplier in china and a manufacturer in germany to reach new customers in the u.s. well, ups can help bring it all together with efficient solutions like paperless invoice that can help make customs a breeze. hey, the opportunities are out there. seize them with ups. you know, it's hard drawing those perfect circles.

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oh, yeah, miami, florida, sunny, 66 degrees right now, 71 degrees a little bit later. hello, logan and avery johns, my son and daughter are there in miami right now enjoying some good weather. hi, guys. happy thanksgiving a little bit late. okay. so, jacqui, just for joe's kids, 71 later today we think? maybe 71 in miami? >> looks great in miami. a little windy, though. that's something they'll have to deal with. we're also watching those winds, by the way, for the shuttle landing that's just about two hours away. nasa right now, though, says all is a go. guys, are you holiday shopping today? >> no. >> no way. >> not even online? >> no, ryan mack says black

friday does not fit into his personal finance strategy. and i trust ryan mack. >> to each his own. i was shocked at the traffic on the way in, by the way this morning. on the way in this morning. crazy out there. you're going to need the umbrella and need a little patience, obviously, if you're going out there today. wet weather all across the northeastern corner and even a little snow mixed in along i-81 east of the syracuse area, not going to be really heavy snow and as we warm up throughout the day, rain showers. anytime you get that in the northeast, travel delays. look out for delays in d.c. as well as new york city and boston, some winds in miami as we mentioned and some fog and clouds in san francisco. joe and christine, back to you? >> thanks, jacqui. >> i'm going shopping, i don't care what you say. coming up next, we'll tell you about u.s. diabetes cases. they're expect to double and cost triple in the near-term here. we'll tell you what we can do

about that. >> certainly doesn't sound it was something the government was really thinking of when they put together their estimates on how to handle the matter in health care.

you go next if you had a hoveround power chair?

♪ good morning, atlanta, atlanta, georgia. we'll have the temperature gauge going up to 56. sunny all day in atlanta. happy day after thanksgiving. welcome back to the "most news in the morning." $300 billion. that's how much a new study projects will be spent on diabetes care in the next 25 years. cnn's senior medical

correspondent, elizabeth cohen, joins us now with more details of this report. and elizabeth, how much of the increase is from current figures? >> oh, christine, when you look at what the increase in diabetes is going to be now versus 25 years in the future, the numbers are really stunning. let's take a look at these numbers from a new study out of the university of chicago. according to the study, now there are about 23.7 million diabetics in the u.s. by 2034, that number will nearly double to 44.1 million. christine, you might think it's because americans are getting heavier, but when they did the statistical analysis, they just assumed that americans would not get heavier, that they'd stay the same. this increase is just due to the fact that americans are ageing, those baby boomers are getting older. christine? >> it's sure to take a toll on the health care system and how much does all of that cost? >> the numbers are so huge, it's kind of hard to get your head around it. let's take a look at what those

number numbers are. right now the spending for diabetes is about $113 billion. because of this huge increase, they expect the spending willing go up to $336 billion. this is very interesting. it's estimated that if we could control diabetes, we could save $217 million a year. wouldn't that be amazing, if we can control diabetes, think of all the lives we could save, plus save $217 million a year. >> all right. now, what do we have to do to slow down this increase? >> there's nothing mysterious here, christine. we're talking diet and exercise. keep your weight down, keep exercising. and it doesn't have to be sort of olympic-level exercising. even just 30 minutes of vigorous walking a day can help decrease your chances of getting diabetes. >> okay. walk. a little walking can do a body good. hi, joe. >> and you can also exercise at the malls.

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good morning. it's friday, november 27th. i'm christine romans in for kiran chetry. >> i'm joe johns in for john roberts. if you're a lot of people, you were up very early this morning, hitting the malls, almost ready to go home already, right?

here are the big stories we'll tell you about. the day after thanksgiving, you can expect two things, leftovers and long lines. today, the holiday shopping rush is on. retailers are hoping huge discounts and extended hours will set cash registers ringing after a tough year. we're live braving the crowds. >> wall street kicking off the trading day in about 90 minutes. it's shaping up to be a rough ride today, folks. we'll tell you what it could mean for your investments. and air travel perks for members of congress. parking free at airports, some even permitted to doublebook seats on multiple flights while only paying for the ones they use. >> there's almost no seats available on planes right now because the airlines keep cutting back the number of seats are actually available for you to sit in so they can make money on their flights. so when they doublebook a seat, they're taking up one available seat the flying public could have. >> you've only earned those miles because we've paid you back and forth as part of your

job. i don't think they should be able to keep them. >> in a moment, we'll talk about how our elected officials get freebies from an industry they also happen to regulate. but first, door busters. super sales, midnight madness, it can only mean one thing, it's black friday! frenzied shoppers were poised to attack this morning when macy's here in new york city opened its doors at 5:00 a.m. eastern. retailers really counting on today to try to ease the pain of the recession, somewhat. our sean callebs is live at the walmart in marietta, georgia. and sean, homeboy, show us around. how busy is it right now? >> reporter: a little slice of heaven, joe. actually, it's not that busy now. it was chaos early in the morning. now, what happened, they had

sales that began at 5:00 eastern. now, normally this is a walmart store that opens around 5:00, but we all know what happened last year, long island when doors opened early in the morning, everyone went in, a crush of humanity descended on the place. walmart worked with stores that weren't open 24 hours, so they got those stores to be able to be open for 24 hours so people could be in line. we're here in the electronics section. not very many people here right now. this morning this place was crazy. there were people waiting for flat screen tvs, waiting for playstations, wii, just about everything you could think of. but this is the way it is now. things have really calmed down to a significant degree here. and that's good. but the store managers tell us, look, this morning things got off great. everything went as planned. and another thing, to keep things as calm as can be, you can see two uniformed officers. they were hired by walmart to make sure things did not get out of hand. everybody was very calm, they

came in for the sales early in the morning, but now people are going through that black friday drag, where they just pound the pavement, trying to find something to take home for the kids or something to stick under the tree. but, joe, it is -- i'll be honest with you, i'll be glad when this day is over. >> i bet you will. so looking around out there, have you been able to sort of ascertain what the hot gift is, at least from where you're standing right now? >> reporter: yeah, spin back around and i'll show you what the hot gift is. these flat screen tv, because they were so expensive years ago, but now you could buy a 32 inch one for under $300, 290 some bucks. and at 5:15, this place is jammed and one guy's pushing a cart with a crock pot. who comes in to say, i've got to have the crock pot at 5:15 in the morning?! >> seems like he's at least a day late, given the fact that yesterday was thanksgiving. >> reporter: i'm having meat and

potatoes tonight! >> that's right. thanks so much, sean callebs. and stay with us. in ten minutes, we'll break down where you can find the best deals and when to hit the stores. >> joe, life is not complete unless you have a $4 crock pot. and financial nerves rattled this morning after news that what is essentially the financial arm of dubai may possibly have to default on billions in debt. our stephanie elam is minding your business here. they've asked for six months to figure out how to pay their debt obligations. >> yeah. and it's something that has spooked out investors across the globe here. because dubai, when they think of dubai, they think of excess, tons of money everywhere, build beaches in the desert. this has freaked out a lot of people, especially in asia. you've got the nikkei in japan losing more than 3%. the hang seng and hong kong off

4%. south korea's kopsi off almost 5%. we're looking for a rough day. not as rough as we were expecting earlier this morning. things are calming down. also, the european lower, but not staggering fractionally lower. let's break it down and tell you about dubai world. they're the state financial arm of dubai. they're owned by the government. this is a government company here. and basically what they're saying is, hey, we've got this $59 billion in debt. we'd like to not make any payments on it for six months. is that cool with you, everybody? cool, happy? oh, that's a problem for you? the banks didn't really like that idea, apparently. and this is during the ied holiday, this is a massive holiday in the middle east, so there are not people in the office, combined with not a lot of people in the office here for

thanksgiving. but we need to see how much of the american banks have exposure to this. the overall feeling right now is probably not that much. but that's what we'll be keeping our eyes on as the story continues to go here. also, i can tell you that dubai has said in several published reports that this was a sensible business decision, but we should be looking for more information next week. >> the one thing that i've been wondering about since i first started hearing about this was, was this on a scale of one to ten, a huge surprise or were there some indications, perhaps, and either one of you can tell me -- >> i think that the idea, there's an issue about transparency, and that is the biggest takeaway from this story. we need to know more about what's going on. you can have billions and billions and trillions of dollars, but we need to know you know what you're doing with it. >> there are several different ones and these secretive funds. you can't really see very well what is happening. >> and that's the issue here and this is why it's become such a big issue.

if you're going to compare this to last fall, this is nothing like that. we don't have to worry about this story having that much of a major impact on the global markets as we saw last fall. just to put it into perspective. we need to keep our eyes on it. >> like in the united states, you kind of see the indicators before it hits you in the face. >> well, you hope. last year we didn't, really. >> in a perfectly healthy world, a deal, something of this size, may not have the impact, but this just shows you fragile the financial system is. and the credit crunch we thought was gone a year ago, there are still signs of it around the world. >> and how interconnected we were. >> at this point, it's a different game. >> we're not all healthy out there yet. stephanie, thanks, stephanie. >> thanks so much. and we're finding a lot more out about the couple from virginia that crashed tuesday night's white house state dinner. when they're not slipping past security check points to rub el bose with washington's elite, they're spending a lot of time in court.

tareq and michaele salahi are in several lawsuits and filed for chapter 7 bankruptcy back in february. a spokesman for the couple says they'll be taking their story public on a media junket last week. >> and on the day they crashed the white house, they were being followed around by a reality tv crew. >> another surprise. >> the bravo network confirming michaele salahi is being considered for a role in their upcoming "real housewives of d.c." show. a spokeswoman for bravo says the company told them they were invited guests at the state dinner. talk about some top material for talk show hosts and comedians. the dinner white house crashing couple is providing plenty of ammo for funny men like jay leno. >> a couple snuck into the state dinner at the white house the other night. they just snuck in. what gave them away, their son, balloon boy was hiding in the lincoln dinner. no, i mean, the last time someone who got into the white house that didn't belong there,

god, they stayed eight years. remember? >> did he use the name of who he was he thought wasn't supposed to be there? >> he didn't mention exactly who he was talking about. i think it was barney. >> yeah, oh, yeah. >> that was the name of the dog, right? >> barney, that's pretty good. no, i thought you were talking about the dinosaur -- >> no, wasn't the dog named barney? >> yeah, the dog was named barney. let's move off of this subject quickly, please. where were the shopping deals today? where are they? when should you go hunting, what should you expect? and is it worth it. of the seafood you love. now's the time to create your own seafood feast at red lobster. choose two or three from ten selections. classic favorites like steamed crab legs... to new creations, like wood-grilled shrimp... with garlic creme and parmesan. or tender salmon with a sweet maple and cherry glaze. get more for your money when you create your own seafood feast.

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♪ ♪ i'm a barbie girl in the

barbie world ♪ black friday in the bay area. sun's not even up yet. there you go, san francisco, california, forecast calls for it to be cloudy, 56 degrees, showers, going up to about 57. not real warm, but looking good so far. welcome back to the "most news in the morning." if there's any debate over what was the hottest season's toy or what is the season's hottest toy, shoppers in new york seem to have settled pinpoint hundreds lined up at the toys "r" us in times square just to get their hands on zhu zhu. that is a motorized hamster that usually sells for around $7. i think you saw it here on "american morning" just yesterday. but on ebay, they're selling it for $30 and more. >> that's a recession-friendly little thing. not a big, expensive tv. just a little tiny toy. not bad. as you saw with toys "r" us, black friday getting upstaged

bying thanksgiving. many stores upped their doors on the holiday, but where are the deals and when should you go hunting? here to help us break it down, our retail wizard, marshall cohen. thanks for coming in here. are there going to be decent deals for people out there if you're patient and know where to go hunting? >> this year, the deals will be plentiful, every week from here on in -- >> oh, it's not just today. >> it's not just today. the retailers have groomed us to believe that black friday is the day. but i call it the grays of black friday. what we're seeing is the deals have already started on wednesday, online, on thursday, stores were open on thursday, and today, the big day, they really are out there to shop. the good news for the retailer is that the consumers that are going out and getting in line, they really do want to spend money. and the good news for the consumer is these deals aren't over. they're going to continue on throughout the holiday season. >> i love you call it the graying of black friday.

i think a lot of people don't know what the black friday comes from. black friday, traditionally, they knew it was going to make money for christmas after black friday. it was pure profit from there on out. but today, you've got a lot of consumers worried about their own being in the black for the year. how much pressure does that put on retailers to get real creative and get good bargains for customers. a lot of people are using debit cards now, can't finance their purchases like they useded to. >> this year, the retailer has matured the holiday. it's like a new tradition is beginning, where the retailers are communicating with consumers on a constant basis. whether it's through social media or through direct e-mail campaigns or even through word of mouth of friends, helping people share the news about where all the good deals are. consumers are coming into the stores. i've been in stores since 3:00 this morning and they all are coming in with flyers or downloads from online, finding things they're looking for. it's a more organized, chaotic

situation. last year it was a feeding frenzy of trying to find the deals. this year, a little bit more organized, a little bit better. >> i saw a consumer reports survey that said that 66% of consumers were shopping for themselves, because it's been a rough year and a half. do you think people are buying gifts or buying after being out in the desert for a little while? >> i can't tell you how many people over the last three days have literally told me they are just now for the first time buying for themselves. so in many cases, people are actually for the first time reaching out and spending on themselves. pent-up demand, as well as what i call frugal fatigue are starting to kick in. people are tired of spending the last year living in this recession and not spending any money. >> with frugal fatigue come frug

frug frugalistas. it can't just be 20% off. i get these e-mails all the time, 20% off and free shipping. >> the real price point this year seems to be 40% off. last year, consumers were given the ultimate gift of 75% storewide sales because they were trying to manage inventory down, they had so much of it. this year, it's really about 40% off items only, and it's not storewide sales, it's selected items. really, the consumer this year needs to take advantage of. when you find a good item on sale, buy it. >> what about inventory? i've heard some tell us, if you really want it, it might not be there. they're careful about stocking too much stuff in case the economy remains weak. >> retailers have done a very good job this year of keeping inventories in control, which is why we've seen the sales not have to reach the level we saw last year. you can find plenty of things that no one really wants to give as a christmas gift everywhere.

so without really many hot items with the exception of a hot toy here and there and a hot electronic item here and there, there isn't that much hot product out there that everybody is so desiring. in fact, consumers are not even aware of what they want to get for christmas, let alone what they're going to give. retailers have plenty of merchandise to go around. if you don't find it in one store, you can find it in another. if you can't find it in the stores, certainly find it online. >> no need to pay full price for anything. and today's not just the day. >> and a reminder, marshall has a book coming out soon, "buy me!" keep an eye out for that. and coming up shortly after the break, we'll talk about congressional travel perks when the people you send to capitol hill actually get the red carpet treatment from the airline industry. the class leader in highway fuel economy? or a 2009 consumer guide best buy? how about all of the above? the eight passenger buick enclave. may the best car win. the eight passenger buick enclave. now your chase card let's you make

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♪ so the weather officially says it's mostly cloudy in d.c., but that looks kind of like a bright -- it looks kind of bright to me, a bright, bright look at the capitol building. 43 degrees in the nation's capitol. later today, partly cloudy, 49 in d.c. not bad. >> a little chilly. >> welcome back to the "most news in the morning." did you happen to fly this holiday weekend? you know it's getting more and more expensive. >> 30 bucks a day to park your car at the airport. >> check. >> let's see, charge to book the flight. >> check. >> more fees for your bags. >> check. >> it's really going to add up, obviously. unless you happen to be an elected official in washington, d.c. >> reporter: this holiday season, as you sit packed into economy class paying those extra

fees, enduring canceled eflight, getting bumped from your seat, consider this. the people you send to washington to regulate the airlines are receiving travel perks from the industry and it's perfectly legal. >> there's an absolutely conflict of interest between members of congress who should be writing laws to protect passengers and them taking perks from the airlines. >> reporter: case in point, while most of us have to pay for reservations when we make them, some airlines allow members of congress to doublebook flights on multiple flights. but unlike the average joe traveler, members of congress only pay for the flights they take, even as airlines often overbook flights. >> reporter: there's almost no seats available on planes right now, because the airlines keep cutting back the number of seats that are actually available for you to sit in, so they can make money on their flights. so when they doublebook a seat, they're actually taking up one available seat that the flying public could have. >> reporter: another perk, free

parking members of congress get, including here at washington's reagan national airport. >> they pay absolutely nothing for the privilege of parking here. in fact, the revenues could easily amount to $1 million or more. >> reporter: and even though taxpayers are paying the freight, members of the house can use their frequent flier miles for personal travel, which irks some watchdog groups, because if they used nimiles on for business travel, they could save the taxpayers money. >> you've only earned those miles because we've paid you to fly back and forth as part of your job. i don't think they should be able to keep them. the problem with perks, so much of them are decided by the lawmakers themselves. >> reporter: defenders say they're entitled to these perks. and why do they need so much special treatment from the airline industries? some say their jobs are so demanding and unpredictable, they need special treatment to cope with congressional

schedules. votes can occur late at night, early in the morning, even on weekends. but it's also true that members of congress are some of the most important customers the airlines serve, because they are among the people who make the rules for the industry. which is why some are upset. >> there is no separation between congress and the airlines. when the airlines are allowed to offer our good senators and congressmen perks whenever they fly. they are never going to legislate a meaning airline passenger bill of rights in the face of losing those perks. >> reporter: and while a passenger bill of rights has been put together by the senate, it hasn't yet been passed. several airlines we contacted said offering such perks is legal and cited the difficult schedules of the members of congress as the main reason they do it. although it may be little consolation the next time you're struggling to get through america's air travel gauntlet. >> unbelievable. it just doesn't change. just doesn't -- >> nope. i've done this story in varying forms, talking about the perks,

over the course of my career, about three or our full-times. there have been attempts to change it, attempts to cut it out, but it just keeps going. >> all right. we're going to talk more about a travel situation that you might be very concerned -- a very serious situation at one of the major airports in this country. a potential runway danger. and what's being done and hasn't been done to try to address it. - pie. ? - apple or cherry? - cherry. oil or cream? oil or cream? cream. some use hydrogenated oil. reddi-wip uses real dairy cream. nothing's more real than reddi-wip.

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♪ all right. 46 and cloudy in the big apple. there she is, lady liberty right there in new york harbor. we're going to go up to 48 today and showers in the big apple after a really beautiful day yesterday for the parade. welcome back to the "most news in the morning." this is a busy time for airports, millions of americans preparing to fly home after the thanksgiving holiday. >> and now comes word of serious safety concerns at one of the busiest airports in the nation. allan chernoff here with an a.m. original. close calls at the runway at newark. >> exactly. these are runways that intersect at newark and sometimes they're used at the same time. now federal officials have concluded that the landing procedures at newark sometimes have allowed planes to come much too close to each other. >> reporter: a potential danger to the flying public. that's how federal investigators are describing the simultaneous

use of intersecting runways at newark liberty international airport, one of the busiest in the nation. newark air traffic controller ray adams raised the issue after witnessing too many close calls from the control tower. on january 16th of last year, he saw two continental planes miss each other by only 600 feet. >> that was very scary. i was there for that one personally in the control tower and it scared the heck out of everybody up there. >> reporter: potential danger arises when approaching planes need to abort their landings, which happens every 700 flights, according to an faa analysis. any plane aborting a landing along runway 11, which runs west to east here at newark, has to make a sharp right turn, taking it into the path of two intersecting runways. in what the faa calls go-arounds, the diverted plane has to avoid planes landing and taking off from the intersecting runway.

there's little margin for error. four times last year and another four times this year, newark air traffic control allowed planes to come too close together. >> there was a distinct possibility that we could have had a collision with these operations the way they were run previously. >> reporter: adams raised the safety issue to the faa, but it went nowhere. he says his managers maintained there were no problems, yet adams persisted, taking his complaint to congress. in response, he says, he was punished, put on paid leave for 11 months, then leave without pay for a month. the faa says the disciplinary actions had nothing to do with adams safety concerns. adams filed a whistle-blower complaint, which led department of transportation inspector general calvin scovell to investigate. he found merit in adams' concerns. including two months ago, questions about the safety of the runway 22l-11 approach

configuration at newark persist. >> i've been vindicated least on the safety concerns, now i would like to see some accountability on the part of the faa. >> reporter: in response, the faa promised to utilize a computer program that helped air traffic controllers to stagger aircraft to ensure proper safety. on november 5th, the department of transportation told the office of special counsel the computer system had been put to use. faa implemented converging runway display aid technology at newark on october 26th. the very next day, the u.s. of special counsel learned that in fact the technology was no longer in use at newark. >> i am outrage. when you put the jeopardy of human lives at risk, it can't get anymore serious than that. >> reporter: faa says there was no intent to deceive anyone about what we were doing. faa safety officers wanted to make absolutely sure employees were fully trained on the

equipment. last week, the office of special council raised the matter with president obama, writing, we found a substantial likelihood that faa officials were engaging in conduct that constitutes gross mismanagement and a substantial and specific danger to public safety. the faa says it plans to have the computer system fully operational at newark by mid-december. meanwhile, after a year out of the control tower, ray adams returned to his regular job on wednesday. >> gross mismanagement, that's pretty serious stuff. >> the office of special council is perturbed, to say the least. just imagine, they received this letter from the department of transportation saying, oh, it's all in place. and then all of a sudden, they learn it's not. so that led to this very, very strong letter to the president. >> and they explain why it's not in place, because there are some issues with training and the like, but it raises the question, if you've got this

means, this software to help the air traffic controllers with this problem, why wouldn't you be using it and have everyone trained and aggressively trying to get this? >> and this is actually software that they've had for quite some time. so clearly, it's something that could help, at least now, it's going to be implemented. it is going to happen. >> allan chernoff, you can read more about allan's story on runway dangers at newark airport, go to our blog at cnn.com/amfix. it is now 31 minutes after the hour. checking our top stories. ready, set, spend. shoppers across the country are rolling out of bed early to find the gloomy economy and celebrating black friday. right now, retailers are trying to make you an offer you can't refuse to help beat the recession. experts say crowds this year should be a little heavier than usual. >> we're watching your money this morning. market overseas in negative territory over fears over a debt situation, a credit situation in dubai.

japan's nikkei closed down more than 3%, hong kong hang seng down by almost 5%. and right now the dow futures are also sharply lower. and iranian authorities have seized the noble peace prize won by human rights attorney that. she became the first muslim woman to receive the nobel back in 2003. she won it for promoting democracy in iran. she says iran's revolutionary court authorities ordered taking the medal from her safe deposit box in iran earlier this month. the confiscation is actually a first in the 108-year history of the prize. and he's a young man, but already making an extraordinary difference for kids half his age. efren penaflorida was named cnn's 2009 hero of the year. >> and what he did, he created a

classroom on wheels to give kids at risk in the philippines an alternative to gangs. recently wit recently, i had a chance to speak with efren and ask him how it felt to win the award. >> it's overwhelming, and it's unbelievable. i cannot believe that this thing is happening to us. >> could you ever imagine international recognition for your program? would you ever think that so many people would know and say, look, you're our hero? >> no. we never expected to be in this situation. it's really god's blessing to us. >> let's talk about the push cart classrooms. you saw a need in your country, you saw a need for children to have the opportunity to learn. tell me a little bit about your program and what you bring and provide to those children. >> a lot of kids are -- don't have opportunity to go, so what

we do is we bring the school to them, so we use a push cart. the push cart has a built-in blackboard shelf. we have a place where children can play for a certain period of time. we also have a clinic where we bring medicine for a first aid kit, where we treat their wounds and some hygiene programs as well. so that's what with we do the whole day. >> some of these children who you used to tutor are former gang members, drug addicts who are now working alongside you. how does that feel to see that you are making this difference in these kids' lives and giving them a chance to escape the grip of poverty and crime? >> it's really fulfilling. just to see these kids learning

how to read and right and these kids joining us instead of joining gangs and being productive. it's really fulfilling on our part. >> it must be amazing to see, you know, every child no matter where they live or what their circumstances, efren, every child has it in them to learn and take their young life and have a chance to grow it and do something with it. and you've given them that little bit of a help, that little bit of a thing, how do they respond? >> before -- at first, some of them are interested, because instead of joining us, they want to skafening and play in streets and beg, but our mentors advises

us to bring food. so that's the main motivation then. if you're not going to give something to them, they will not listen to you. so what we did, we bring bags of foods and then before we give the food to them, we first teach them, so now a lot of children are interested. they are very excited. they are motivated, aside from the food that they are getting, it's the love for learning. we were able to develop in their hearts. >> all right, efren penaflorida, cnn hero of the year. thank you so much, sir. congratulations. >> thank you very much. >> proof positive that every person can make a difference with a push cart and a blackboard and a bag of food. >> just amazing. and another amazing story coming up straight away. a story that a lot of kids are just going to love to hear. a fraternity of santas and what they ask for. coming up next. (announcer) a cold or flu can start fast...

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now, the macy's parade, it was a big success today, apparently. people were particularly excited, they unveiled a brand-new parade balloon. and they're already calling it an instant classic. people went crazy for it. there it is. everyone was excited -- apparently, yeah. >> that's pretty funny.

welcome back to the most news in the morning. >> sorry, i'm joking. that was really a surprise. to millions he goes by just one name, santa. he is a familiar face, especially this time of year. >> and this morning, our ted rowlands introduces us to five big bearded friends making a difference on the holiday. ♪ >> reporter: these are five santas with some incredible stories. bob gerardi is a realtor. bob beagles is a retired deputy sheriff. eloy ray is a retired train conductor who now drives this santa convertible. davestrom is retired from the phone company, now a gun smith. and art brown is a politician. they've each had thousands of kids sit on their laps. >> most of us have gotten a beard full of whatever the child is eating at the moment. here, santa, have a bite. >> reporter: they also have stories about children with nothing asking for things for

their parents and heartbreaking requests from kids asking santa for a miracle, like having loved ones come back from the dead. >> i've been asked to have mom or dad to come back, a liver transplant or kidney transplant for one of the parents. those are very difficult. >> one said, all i want is a new diaper bag for my new baby for my mother. they don't have anything, but think of other people. >> reporter: sometimes the santa's can help, like dave's story on getting a family's power turned back on. >> having worked for a power company, i had a little insight on how to do that. >> reporter: as a rule, the santas never promise everything, though kids definitely ask. >> as they're facing me and telling me what they want, i can see the parents in the background -- >> how do you handle that? >> i tell them, i'm sure you'll love what santa will bring you. >> reporter: these santas are members of the fraternal order

of real bearded santas. they get together throughout the year for santa pool parties and dinners. they recently went to see the movie "a christmas carol." >> i've never seen the movie "bad santa," by the way. i refuse to see it. >> reporter: they also say they've refused to be a bad santa. >> i don't mind a cute young lady sitting on my lap and a kiss on the cheek or something of that nature, but she's going to be fully clothed. that's where i draw the line. >> reporter: they say they're recognized all year by children and are always ready to answer the question, are you the really san santa? >> we say, it's up to you decide who is the real santa. >> reporter: bob says he got a smile from a disabled girl he saw who had pneumonia. >> this little girl had a smile on her face from ear to ear that

wouldn't stop and broke my heart. i was just sitting there looking at -- she was obviously just overjoyed to be there. >> reporter: the next time you see a smiling child on santa's lap, know that the man behind the beard is probably smiling too. ted rowlands, cnn, los angeles. >> those guys are cool. very cool. >> that's fantastic. >> really is. >> and santas of all people really know a thing or two about bad weather. we're getting a nice preview here today. storms in the northeast bringing some snow. >> what are we talking about here? talking about west virginia -- well, jacqui jeras will tell us the whole story. >> she's actually qualified to read that map and tell us what it means. >> i don't have a clue. what's the blue stuff? >> freeze warnings in the south. we'll have a whole rundown for your traveling pleasure after this. ♪ singer: was getting depressed 'cause of all of the stress ♪

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so does every moment. make the most of both this holiday season with great gifts at great prices from l.l. bean. ♪ ♪ oh, look at that right now. what a shot. that is boston, massachusetts. see a little bit of fog there up in the sky and just a taste of the road. not much. all right. so what are we looking at for the weather there? light rain, 45 degrees later today going all the way up to 46. here in the northeast, we're going to see some problems, actually. >> we really are. >> we need to get to jacqui now,

because we were looking at your map, we were not able to decipher it, but it's pretty clear that there's something out there that's going to cause people problems in the northeast. >> it is. and i like the way you said it's 45 in boston. we're going all the way up to 46. >> see, that's why we need a trained professional. >> exactly. it is kind of lousy weather across the northeastern corridor. it's not horrible, but it's certainly going to be impacting your day today and impacting your travel as well. deciphering the map here, the blue is just light rainfall. when you start to see some of these darker greens and yellows and oranges, it's a little bit on the heavier side. of course, the white means snow. we've been seeing a little bit of that in upstate new york, but little to no accumulation is going to be expected. expected to be a little bit slick on the bridges and overpasses. now, it's just rain now, but we're going to see the winds kick in here across the northeastern corridor, probably by your drive time home, if you head to work today.

say, 5:00, 6:00 or so and winds could be really strong. 45-plus-mile-per-hour gusts. so delays expected today because of the low clouds and fog throughout the morning. and then the winds will kick in for the northeast in the afternoon. delays in miami and ft. lauderdale, as well as san francisco, and very chilly to start you out here into the southeast, but temperatures will be warming up into the 50s. christine and joe? >> jacqui jeras, thank you, jacqui. you know, the governor of colorado woke up to a beautiful white lawn this morning. one problem -- it wasn't snow. someone someone tp'd the governor's mansion. colorado's first lady was philosophical about it. she said, at least it's better than getting egged. and at least it's not raining. when it's raining and you've been tp'd -- ugh. >> i wonder who did that? >> the guard probably got laid off with state budget cuts. and jeanne moos will have a

piece on a reality show new to cable that's causing quite a bit of controversy. the question is whether italian-americans are being portrayed as bimbos and buffoons. yeah ! ( cluck, cluck, cluck ) oh, wowww ! that's fun ! you didn't say i could have a real one. well, you didn't ask. even kids know when it's wrong to hold out on somebody. why don't banks ? we're ally, a new bank that alerts you when your money could be working harder and earning more. it's just the right thing to do. wow! [ grunts ] oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. aah! [ door opens, closes ] wow. what's the occasion? [ male announcer ] relax. pam helps you pull it off.

♪ my family in chicago had thanksgiving yesterday at pat and archie's house, chicago, illinois, where it's partly cloudy, 31 degrees.

give a shout-out to your kids in florida, i give a shout out to pat and archie. cloudy and 42 later today. let's fast forward through the stories we'll be covering on cnn today. at 9:44 eastern, space shuttle "atlantis" plans to land at kennedy space center, weather permitting. yesterday we told you they were not having thanksgiving in space, but turns out they snuck turkey dinners on to the shuttle before it undocked. a little holiday turkey surprise. and at 1:00 p.m. eastern, u.s. markets close early. it is likely to be a pretty rough day out there. asian stock markets hit the skids this morning after dubai attempted to reschedule its $60 billion debt and the dollar hit a 14-year low against the yen. >> so let's check on the markets now. stephanie elam minding your business. we know the futures are expected to be lower. people worried about what this dubai situation means for the rest of the world. where do we stand? >> wii going to see a lot of volatility because most people

are still recovering from all that turkey they ate yesterday. not a lot of people going to be in. volatility all abounds, simply because there's not that many traders. what i can tell you, the asian markets really took it on the chin because of what's going on in dubai. ni nikkei losing nearly 3%, hang seng, off almost 5%. but we are seeing that the ftse in london are positive. our futures are coming back a bit, but still looking down about 200 points. we are going to have a rough day here, but what you need to know about the story, dubai world, the financial arm of the dubai government, is saying they would like to not pay back any money on their debt, which is about $59 billion for six months. they went ahead and went to safe haven. this is nothing like last year, but it shows you investors are still really skittish about this market.

>> a reminder, it's not all rainbows and unicorns out there. >> no fairy dust. >> it's not? >> no. stephanie elam, thanks. i guess it's not rainbows and unicorns on the jersey shore where mtv is doing this reality show that has really angered italian-americans who say that it's just unfairly portraying italian-americans as bimbos and buffo buffoons. i don't know. you know, volkswagen takes care of the scheduled maintenance at no cost. and during the sign then drive event, you can get a cc, jetta, or top safety-rated tiguan for practically just your signature. it's that easy. i can't believe it. [ whoosh! ] [ humming ] [ engine revs ] ♪ [ tires screech ] [ pen scratches ] i can believe it. yep.

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♪ welcome back to the "most news in the morning." first, it was the sopranos, many italian-americans a little uneasy with that stereotyping that coming with a character like tony soprano. >> now there's a new reality show called "jersey shore." and before the first episode has even aired, italian-americans are angry again. they're afraid they're being portrayed as bimbos and buffoons. here's jeanne moos. >> reporter: just what new jersey needs, another slap. >> tv's new series, "jersey shore." >> reporter: but what's creating waves is the way italians come across in this series. >> i love gidos. >> full of the tannest, hottest, craziest, guidos.

>> reporter: he's president of an italian-american organization that would love "jersey shore" to be canceled. >> i like tan italian boys and muscles. >> reporter: even though it hasn't yet aired. >> it takes me 25 minutes to go my hair. >> it's a punch of pumped up young bimbos and buffoons with their spiked up hair. >> reporter: you have nice air. >> thank you. >> reporter: but it's not spiked up. the reality show gets hairy. it's about a group of 20-somethings that shares a rental house. >> i'm a well-groomed italian that's very, very good with the ladies. >> they show them being arrested, fighting, you know, hitting a girl, a girl kissing a girl, it's just trash. trash. >> reporter: but isn't this normal reality show fare? >> what's the insult on injury was that it's italian-americans. >> reporter: the last show he protested was "the sopranos."

>> what are you crying about? >> reporter: the cast of "jersey shore" makes tony soprano seem modest. >> you can hate on me, but what can you say to somebody that looks like ram bow with his shirt off. >> reporter: mtv released a statement saying, "the show continues mtv's history of documenting various subcultures and the way they self-identify." but he's not buying that explanation. of mtv stands for -- >> empty. it's an empty network now. >> reporter: his wife, jenny, gre agrees. >> it looks like "girls gone wild." >> they call the girls the guidettes. >> jeanne moos, cnn, new york. >> you can continue the convsa